1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of compactable displays. In particular, the present invention relates specifically to a pusher system using compactable components for shipping and easy assembly.
2. Description of the Known Art
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, corrugated displays and various types of pusher systems have been previously invented. Patents disclosing information relevant to various display systems include: U.S. Pat. No. 1,271,508, issued to Hall on Jul. 2, 1918; U.S. Pat. No. 2,538,165, issued to Randtke on Jun. 16, 1951; U.S. Pat. No. 3,166,195, issued to Taber on Jan. 19, 1965; U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,166, issued to Wojciechowski on Jan. 24, 1967; U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,546, issued to Cohen on Mar. 18, 1969; U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,093, issued to Field on May 13, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,367, issued to Smith on Feb. 9, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,558, issued to Battaglia on Jul. 4, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,107, issued to Belanger et al. on Sep. 24, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,089, issued to Rankin IV on Oct. 15, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,533, issued to Stavros on Dec. 23, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,071, issued to Caterinacci on Jun. 15, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,888, issued to Burke on Aug. 10, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,754, issued to Ondrasik on Nov. 23, 2004; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,855, issued to Nagel on May 10, 2005. Each of these patents are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The most relevant information covered by these patents is identified as follows: U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,107, issued to Belanger, et al. on Sep. 24, 2002 is entitled Shipping and display container. The patent abstract notes that this invention teaches a tray-shaped shipping and display container has a support surface for supporting items for display. A pusher member is mounted for sliding movement on the support surface, and is elastically biased in a forward direction so that it continually urges items forward in the container to replace items removed from the front of the container by customers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,367, issued to Smith on Feb. 9, 1999 is entitled Rapid-deployment display stand. Its abstracts describes its teaching as a display stand that includes a main body of a sleeve-shaped configuration including a first main portion, a second main portion, a pair of foldable side portions pivotably interconnecting the first and second main portions, a first auxiliary portion pivotably connected to the first main portion and extending across at least a part of the open upper end of the tubular formation in the erect condition, and a second auxiliary portion pivotably connecting the first auxiliary portion and depending down from the first auxiliary portion in the erect condition. At least one elastic element is connected to and extends between the lower end of the second main portion and the second auxiliary portion. This element acts directly on the second auxiliary portion and only through the same on the other portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,166, issued to Wojciechowski on Jan. 24, 1967 is entitled Collapsible automatically set display container. It is cited for the teachings of a rubber band biasing element.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,538,165, issued to Randtke on Jan. 16, 1951 is entitled Filing box and follower member. This patent is cited for its teachings of a pusher system using spring biased arms.
Thus, it may be seen that these prior art patents are very limited in their teaching and utilization, and an improved pusher system is needed to overcome these limitations.